Luke 18:20

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) Thou knowest the commandments.—St. Luke here agrees with St. Matthew in omitting the “defraud not,” which we find in St. Mark.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:18-30 Many have a great deal in them very commendable, yet perish for lack of some one thing; so this ruler could not bear Christ's terms, which would part between him and his estate. Many who are loth to leave Christ, yet do leave him. After a long struggle between their convictions and their corruptions, their corruptions carry the day. They are very sorry that they cannot serve both; but if one must be quitted, it shall be their God, not their wordly gain. Their boasted obedience will be found mere outside show; the love of the world in some form or other lies at the root. Men are apt to speak too much of what they have left and lost, of what they have done and suffered for Christ, as Peter did. But we should rather be ashamed that there has been any regret or difficulty in doing it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 19:13-30.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20. Thou knowest, &c.—Matthew (Mt 19:17) is more complete here: "but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which—as if he had said, Point me out one of them which I have not kept?—"Jesus said, Thou shalt," &c. (Mt 19:17, 18). Our Lord purposely confines Himself to the second table, which He would consider easy to keep, enumerating them all—for in Mark (Mr 10:19), "Defraud not" stands for the tenth (else the eighth is twice repeated). In Matthew (Mt 19:19) the sum of this second table of the law is added, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," as if to see if he would venture to say he had kept that.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 18:18"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou knowest the commandments,.... The ten commandments given to Moses, and delivered to people; and which they were careful to teach their children; though five are only here mentioned, and not in the order in which they stand: suggesting hereby that these must be kept, or the law must he fulfilled, and satisfaction made for the violation of it, or there can be no inheriting eternal life. The five commandments mentioned are, the seventh, sixth, eighth, ninth, and fifth:

do not commit adultery; do not kill; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honour father and thy mother; See Gill on Matthew 19:17 and See Gill on Mark 10:19.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 18:20. μὴ μοιχεύσῃς: the Seventh Com., first in Lk., the Sixth in Mt. and Mk. (W. H[145]). Mk.’s μὴ ἀποστερήσῃς and Mt.’s ἀγαπήσεις τ. πλησίον σου, etc., are not found in Lk.

[145] Westcott and Hort.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. Thou knowest the commandments] St Matthew says that our Lord first answered, ‘Keep the commandments,’ and when the young man asked, ‘What kind of commandments?’ expecting probably some recondite points of casuistry—minute rules [Halachoth) out of the oral Law—our Lord to his surprise mentions the broadest and most obvious commandments of the Decalogue.

Do not kill, &c.] Our Lord seems purposely to have mentioned only the plainest commandments of the Second Table, to shew the young man that he had fallen short even of these in their true interpretation; much more of that love to God which is the epitome of the first Table. Thus does Christ ‘send the proud to the Law, and invite the humble to the Gospel.’

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 18:20. Τίμα, honour) even though thou art a ruler: Luke 18:18.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 20. - Thou knowest the commandments. The report in St. Matthew is somewhat fuller. There the ruler, when directed to the commandments, replies by asking "which?" expecting most likely to be referred to some of the elaborate traditional laws of the rabbinic schools, which were difficult to keep even by men in the position of a wealthy Pharisee; but to his surprise Jesus mentions the most general and best-known of the ancient ten. Luke 18:20

Vincent's Word Studies

Why callest thou me good?

See on Matthew 19:17.

Do not commit adultery, etc

Compare the different arrangement of the commandments by the three synoptists.